Iraqis Crowd Churches for Christmas Mass

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BAGHDAD (AP) - Thousands of Iraqi Christians made their way to church through checkpoints and streets lined with blast walls, many drawing hope from a lull in violence to celebrate Christmas Mass in numbers unthinkable a year ago.

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"Iraq is a bouquet of flowers of different colours, each colour represents a religion or ethnicity but all of them have the same scent," the 80-year-old Delly told the congregation.

Muslim clericsboth Sunni and Shiitealso attended the service in a sign of unity.

"May Iraq be safe every year, and may our Christian brothers be safe every year," Shiite cleric Hadi al-Jazail told AP Television News outside the church. "We came to celebrate with them and to reassure them."